


We All Do Bad Stuff

by The_Meme_Team



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, BUT IT WILL COME BACK, Fake AH Crew, M/M, Raywood, STRONGER AND MORE ANGSTY, THIS FIC HAS BEEN CANCELLED, a little naughty stuff, and naughty stuff, only a little Gavin/Michael tho, sorry Mavin shippers, warning: will have cute stuff, why was he doing this?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-10 08:50:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5579125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Meme_Team/pseuds/The_Meme_Team
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray renounced a life of crime. He may have been the best sniper in Los Santos once upon a time, but that was behind him. He quit. So… why is it that one encounter starts changing him? Something he was so adamant about staying away from, now seemed more alluring than ever. Fuck... you can't avoid crime in Los Santos. It always finds a way to you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Holy Crap

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to write something with multiple chapters, let's see what happens.
> 
> Also, this is only my 2nd fic ever so don't be too harsh!

There was nothing out that window that was gonna save him.

This much, Ray was certain of.

Ray had stopped paying attention to what was happening on the street below him a couple minutes ago. Now he was looking out the window just for the sake of looking at something. The sky had started to blend. Blue was becoming purple, and at the edges of the horizon, pink. People moved along the sidewalk, the foot traffic having dwindled down since earlier that day. The ones who weren’t wearing sunglasses looked like they were saluting the sun.

This area was always pretty busy, but at this time of day people were rushing home, so for a while things were crowded. That was almost over though, so the streets were emptying out. Soon it would be night, and the streets would be very quiet. Unless of course, someone fired a gun. That was always pretty loud.

Los Santos was not a nice neighborhood. It made it easy to become used to things you shouldn’t be used to. Ray’s ears didn’t even register gunshots anymore. Gunshots were like birds singing. They usually happened later at night though, for now things were alright.

It was that time of day where the sun wasn’t exactly setting, it was just kind of lower than it was before. It wasn’t gone yet, but it was being a huge asshole about that imminent fact.

A normal person would call it “5pm”.

Ray’s elbows rested on the windowsill. Spread a reasonable distance apart, his hands came closer together and balled into fists. They were beneath his chin, propping his head up. He slumped forward, his eyes were heavy as they glared out the window.

The sun was hiding behind some trees from his angle, so besides the sprinkles of golden light pouring through he was safe. The light had touched everything, the street below him was golden. The light shot over his head and spilled into the room behind him. He considered closing the blinds for a moment, until he heard a voice.

“See anything interesting?”

The voice had come from behind him. The British accent making it clear to Ray who exactly was speaking. Well… there was no one else in the room with him, so he would’ve known anyway.

“Nope,”

It was an honest answer. The sun was moving down in the sky. Ray shifted his arms, putting his hands against the windowsill and pushing himself away from it. His chair had wheels on the bottom, so he moved away from the window with relative ease. He spun the chair around to meet his desk. From this new angle he could see Gavin on the other side of the room, sitting on the couch.

“What would you do if you looked out the window… and you just saw some bloke in the building across the way getting murdered or something. What would you even do?”

Gavin presented the hypothetical with a small giggle at the end. Ray rolled his eyes.

“Gavin that’s Rear Window,”

“Wot?”

“It’s a Hitchcock movie, it’s called Rear Window,”

“And that happens in the movie, a guy sees someone get murdered across the street?”

“Yeah,”

Gavin’s shoulders sank as he looked at the floor. Ray felt a little guilty about having just dashed the Brit’s immediate hopes. Ray stood up, giving the chair a gentle kick so it would roll behind him enough to give him some space.

Ray looked over at Gavin, who he saw had a number of guns on the table. Pistols mostly, their respective magazines sprawled all over, some stray bullets lying among them. The sight wasn’t the least bit jarring to Ray.

Gavin was still technically a criminal.

Gavin looked up at Ray, his green eyes landing on the Puerto Rican, then following his gaze to see what he was looking at. Once Gavin realized Ray was staring at the firearms on the table he became intrigued.

“See anything you like?”

It took a moment to register, and once it did Ray rolled his eyes again. He seemed to do that a lot when talking to Gavin.

“Yeah, you can keep your weapons to yourself, asshole.”

Ray wasn’t interested. Not anymore. He was perfectly aware of the lifestyle Gavin led. He wasn’t in the position to judge. He was in the same boat not too long ago. Ray wasn’t the type to brag but others would praise him for his skill with a sniper rifle. Seeing Gavin prepping weapons on the table stirred a bit of nostalgia within him. It didn’t matter though, as hard as it was Ray had put those events behind him. That was the past. It was over.

Ray stretched as best he could, trying to get all of his limbs working and in order. He trudged across the floor, falling backwards into the couch next to Gavin.

“...X-Ray?”

“Yeah?”

“...Michael is coming by in a bit,”

Ray didn’t roll his eyes, but he did so on the inside. An emotional eye-roll. Gavin and Michael were always hanging out, partners in crime. It was all well and fine with him, but if Michael was coming over to talk about a heist or something… 

Well, Ray would prefer to step out.

He decided to cut the bullshit.

“Gav, if you want me to leave, then just tell me to leave,”

Gavin looked at Ray, his expression one of shock more than anything. He looked down at the floor again. Ray stood up and stormed out of the room, trying to control his pace as best he could. He grabbed his keys off the table in case he needed to let himself back in and slammed the door behind him without looking back.

He could take a hint.

***

 

Ray tried to keep a brisk pace. It was tricky, especially since he wasn’t sure where he was going. Whatever. He just wanted to leave.

It wasn’t Gavin’s fault. Knowing this made Ray feel like even a bigger dick than before. Gavin didn’t have a problem with Ray, he would’ve been more than happy if Ray would stay with them. That couldn’t happen though. Ray wanted nothing to do with the criminal lifestyle ever again. He knew Michael pretty well too, they could all be doing this stuff if Ray would just… give in.

He was really trying to avoid that, though.

The sunlight draped over everything, and Ray found himself doing the sun-blocking salute to avoid blinding himself. The light filled up his glasses, rendering him blind even with the salute. He breathed in and out, slowly. He was in a pretty shitty spot in life, he decided. 

It was impossible to avoid… illegal stuff. Not while he was sharing an apartment with Gavin. He tried, but it was everywhere, even on the streets. Crime was the blood that pumped through the veins of Los Santos. It was a part of life. Ray could tell himself it wasn’t going to affect him anymore, but it was bound to come back at some point. 

Gavin would probably get sick of him and kick him out. Ray was unemployed, so Gavin was paying for everything at the moment. Once he was on the street, there was no doubt he’d start robbing places. You always ended up behind a gun, taking what wasn’t yours. The guilt had eaten him up, so he turned away. Even though in the past, he and Gavin were better friends. They would pull off heists together, they called themselves X-Ray and Vav. Pretended like they were superheroes… or well, supervillains. Ray didn’t care about that anymore, though. He wanted some peace and quiet. 

The sun starting hanging lower, and Ray had to bring his hand down to a position nearly covering his eyes. This was pretty much having the same effect as the sunlight would’ve. He couldn’t see very well, but he only had a couple more steps until he turned the corner. When he did so, the sun was behind him. Fucking finally.

He saw a convenience store and his stomach rumbled. Looks like he was getting a snack. It wasn’t his decision, when you’re tummy rumbles, you gotta answer the call. 

He entered the store and ducked behind the nearest row of chips. There was no reason to hide, but it was still a comfort. He scanned the rows of snacks, hoping to find something to satisfy his evening hunger.

He wouldn’t mind some Doritos. 

Ray looked over the rows. The place was pretty empty. There was an older woman browsing the magazines, picking them up, flipping through them, then putting them back. A young guy, teenager, opening every door in the refrigerated section until he was satisfied. Another man was talking to the guy at the register. He was relieved that the place wasn’t too busy. He was never a big fan of people. 

Ray moved down the aisle, examining the shelves. Could he just find a bag of Doritos already so he could be out of there? Maybe he’d pick up something for Gavin too? 

There was a short pause, and then the doors swung open.

He heard a bang, in Los Santos that usually was a sign of gunfire. This was a pretty routine thing. Ray collapsed to his knees, putting his hands up in the air. He heard shouting, but from his place behind the chip row he couldn’t see any of the perpetrators. Whatever. He would comply. 

There was shouting, and another bang. He could invent a scenario for what was happening, but the concept seemed a little macabre to him. Someone probably just died, no need to imagine that. 

Ray heard footsteps and gulped.

A figure rounded the corner and Ray’s eyes widened.

He had never seen someone like this in his life. The man was tall, but that wasn’t the most glaring feature about him. Ray looked up the man’s neck to his face. Dark, a black skull. It was a mask, but Ray was paralyzed with fear nonetheless. The skull’s teeth spread across the surface, Ray saw holes where the eyes were.

Blue eyes, a vibrant shade that bore into him.

The man was wearing a jacket… Black, the shoulders were blue. There were white stripes on the sleeves. The jacket was already splattered with red. Ray could connect the dots.

The man was holding an assault rifle, pretty heavy weaponry for a convenience store heist. Oh God, what a jaded observation. Ray couldn’t help but feel a little disgusted with himself. He should’ve been screaming, crying, begging for mercy or something, like the rest of the people in the store. He didn’t have it in him, though. He had seen this before, hell, he had done this before. The man walked towards him.

“A-are you seriously gonna kill me?”

Ray didn’t intend to stutter, but his throat felt dry. The man didn’t pay any attention to Ray, he walked right past him. Ray felt a little… offended? He was kind of hoping being a brat would get the guy’s attention. For what purpose, he had no clue.

Ray turned to see where the man was going. The older woman who was browsing the magazines was behind him, holding a phone to her ear. Ray watched carefully, having a pretty good idea what was happening.

“Please, wait, they didn’t even answer yet, I wasn’t talking to anyone, I did-”

The man seemed more than happy to fill her with lead in a heartbeat. Ray noticed the man kept the trigger held down, watching her body shake and tremble as the bullets entered. He stopped, a series of gentle clinks on the tile floor signaling the end of the attack. That was that then.

It was her fault for trying to make a phone call. 

Ray shut his eyes. He really was an idiot. You can’t avoid this shit. Not when you live in Los Santos, it’s everywhere, every hour of every day. It kept coming back. He felt a little nauseous, not because of the dead woman or anything. He felt bad… he was thinking about the past. He snapped out of it, telling himself this was really not the time to get sad about stuff. 

He had to make sure he didn’t get shot or something.

The man walked past Ray again.

“I bet she was telling the truth, asshole,”

Ray didn’t mean to say it, and after he did he had really hoped it was a whisper. The man stopped walking, halting in his tracks. Okay, it wasn’t a whisper then. The man turned around, his blue eyes burning through the dark skull.

Well, goodbye world, Ray thought.

The man turned around and walked away. Oh, okay. That was good too. Looks like Skullface wasn’t too interested in Ray’s insults. The man walked around the aisle and Ray peeked over the top of the chip shelf. A man in a suit was collecting the money behind the register, Ray decided that since he couldn’t see the man behind the register he was probably crumpled up on the floor. 

This was a pretty messy heist, if you could even call it a heist. 

That was when Ray saw the man, the one that was talking to the register guy, he was on the floor next to the register, hands above his head. He didn’t seem to causing them any trouble, so Suit Guy and Skullface left him alone. Ray watched him, noting that one the man’s arms began to move. 

It only took a moment for Ray to see it. The gun the man had. A small pistol, but if he had it these guys were in trouble. Gun Guy’s arm reached to his pocket, Skullface and Suit Guy paying no attention to him. The man drew the gun quickly and Ray blinked when it fired. Skullface staggered backwards, grabbing his shoulder. Oh shit! This was more exciting than anything on TV!

Gun Guy lept up and tackled Skullface, pinning him down. He fired the gun again in the direction of Suit Guy behind the register, who ducked behind the counter to defend himself. Ray crawled around the corner. What? He wanted a better view. He was now facing the action directly, seeing Skullface being held firmly on the ground. Ray was on his hands and knees, but he was still looking down the criminal. 

He watched the Gun Guy struggle the restrain Skullface. The blue eyes looked up, and they met again. Something about those eyes… Ray couldn’t stop staring at them. They seemed surrounded by darkness completely. Ray could’ve sworn they looked like they were in pain, as if asking for help. Ray found himself in a trance, only being pulled back out when he heard a shout. 

“Grab the gun!”

What? Ray realized then that the man tackling Skullface was shouting at him. Ray looked as his feet, the assault rifle Skullface was carrying. Oh, shoot Skullface with it. Okay. Ray picked up the assault rifle. It felt… very different from a sniper rifle. He pointed it forward, confident that he could make this shot.

But… he looked at those blue eyes again.

Did he… did he want to shoot him?

Ray started breathing heavier, and his hands were shaking. God dammit. You can make whatever statements you wanted. Nope, never touching a gun again. It didn’t matter. They always found a way back in your fingers, and your fingers always pulled the trigger, because that’s what this city was about. Ray realized he didn’t have a choice, you didn’t get to leave that kind of life behind. It was stuck with him.

He pulled the trigger.

The Gun Guy… fell over. Collapsed dead. Ray dropped the rifle like it was boiling hot. He held his hands up. What… happened? What did he do?

Skullface stood up, and grabbed the assault rifle. He miscalculated, picking it up with the arm where he was shot, and dropped the gun again, clutching his shoulder in pain,

“Are you okay?” Ray asked, his voice shaking.

What?? What the hell was wrong with him??? That guy was the criminal! Skullface picked up the firearm again, now with the other arm, and looked around. Ray stood up quickly, for some awful reason. His actions were no longer decisions he was making, it was like a movie playing out in first-person. He was just watching his body doing things at this point. He ran to the back of the store and held open the door.

“Go, out here!”

If he wasn’t a criminal before, he certainly was now. Skullface staggered out the door and into the alleyway. Ray shut the door, hearing sirens in the distance. Fuck, this was really bad. Someone must have called the cops. What happened to Suit Guy? Ray dug into his pocket and grabbed his phone. He had Gavin on speed dial. He wasn’t sure what Gavin was gonna do to help, but the idiot could do something surely. Skullface leaned against the wall and dropped to the ground, clutching his wounded shoulder. Ray realized as he swiped along the phone screen there was blood on his fingers. Blood from Skullface and Gun Guy, no doubt. The red smeared across the screen as he began to call Gavin.

The sun was gone by now, darkness began creeping down the streets. Ray wasn’t sure if this was gonna help or hinder his… current situation. What was this? What was he going to do? Well, Gavin knew how to fix someone with a bullet in them, so he could get Skullface here some medical attention. So this was good, calling Gavin was a reasonable thing to do. 

...Why did he shoot that guy?

He shot the good guy. He helped the criminal. Ray felt a knot in his stomach, he wasn’t worried about being hungry right now. The knot was a worry knot. He tried to swipe the phone but the blood was making it hard to navigate. 

There, he had figured out how to get a hold of Gavin and took a deep breath.

Ray held the phone up to the side of his head, the ringing on the other side taking an infuriatingly long time. There was a crackle and a pause. Ray waited, but nothing was happening.

“...Gavin?” Ray tried to be quiet, but he was a little freaked out.

“X-Ray, what’s up?”

“Gav, listen to me. It’s important,” Ray spoke quickly, his voice shaky and dry with panic, this was bad and holy hell he had no idea what was happening.

“Ray, what’s wrong?”

“The convenience store on Garren, the one with the yellow sign, you need to come here, bring you car,” Ray said, putting his hand on his chest in attempt to steady his breathing.

“Ray what’s going on, what happened?”

“Just hurry, okay? Bring Michael if you have to, it’s pretty fucking urgent,”

Ray hung up, hoping Gavin would show up soon, Ray had walked for about 10 minutes to get there, by car it should be less than half of that. He looked at the guy in the street, Skullface.

Ray leaned down and looked at him. 

What on Earth was he doing? It would’ve been so easy to shoot the criminal, when the cops showed up they’d probably even thank him. Ray gulped, preparing to say something to the man leaning against the brick wall.

“You’d better thank me for this, okay?”

Ray was surprised when he saw the skull mask move, nodding up and down. Ray grinned, for some reason, he was happy with this. 

He really hoped saving this guy wasn’t gonna bite him in the ass later.


	2. Breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so glad people are liking this! you guys are in for a wild ride so definitely stay tuned!
> 
> even though you can't stay tuned because this is written and not on TV.

Ray felt like he was waiting for hours, but that wasn’t true. It wasn’t even 5 minutes when Gavin called back. He had his car parked around the corner, but he wasn’t going to bring it around the front if there was something bad happening. Ray just kept nodding, saying okay at everything. He was a fucking wreck. 

Skullface was still leaning against the wall, trying to control his breathing.

“Okay, listen pal, I’ve got some people that can fix you up, but we need to move, okay?”

Skullface nods. Ray helps him up, and the masked man wobbles, ready to fall back down again. Ray grabs him.

“It’s okay, here lean on me,”

Ray let the man put his arm over his shoulder. Ray guided down the alley and he saw Gavin’s car down the other street. Thank God.

Gavin slammed the car door and ran towards Ray and the man.

“Ray what the hell’s going on, who is this guy?”

“Look, I don’t have time to explain, get him in the backseat,” Ray said, getting the man off his shoulder.

Ray noticed Michael running out of the car, he was armed.

“Ray, what’s happening?”

“Don’t worry, get back in the car,”

“Ray, what happened? Are you-”

“Just get back in the car, Gavin!”

Gavin returned the the driver’s seat, Michael was in the passenger seat. Ray took the backseat, letting Skullface lean on his shoulder again. Michael kept checking behind them, but they weren’t being followed. Ray was finally able to steady his breathing, which was a miracle in itself.

Gavin was fed up with no having answers.

“Ray, you better explain why you brought a bloody psychopath into my car,”

“Okay, listen…”

He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain this, but he could figure out a way to describe it without it sounding ridiculous.

“This guy… and another guy, they were robbing the place,”

“Wot?!”

“Calm down, Skullface here got shot, I figured I could help him, or well you could help him, you can patch him up right?”

“Jesus Ray, I don’t even know him!”

“But you could do that, right?”

“Well sure, but-”

“So then help, please,”

“Ray, how did this happen?”

“I don’t fucking know! Things went from 0 to 100 in like, 10 seconds!”

Michael was silent, something a little rare for him. The conversation was kind of baffling to him. He figured he could just roll with it though, and if any cops came for them he’d be glad to shoot them.

They arrived back at the apartment building within 3 minutes. At least it wasn’t far. Gavin helped Ray get Skullface inside while Michael watched their backs. Once at their apartment Gavin took Skullface into the bathroom to tend to the bullet wound. 

Ray collapsed onto the couch, staring at his hands. Blood. Not a lot, but his fingertips were practically glowing red. Gavin was asking the right questions. How did this happen? Michael shut the front door behind him.

“Okay, Ray, explain everything,”

Ray took a deep breath, pushing his hair out of his face. 

“I went to the store, to grab a snack or whatever, and the place got robbed, Two guys, one had a suit, other one was Skullface,”

Ray thought briefly about the suit guy, what would he think of all this? From his perspective, they were kidnappers. They had abducted a criminal. Maybe if they ran into Suit Guy, they could explain that they were trying to help? The thought sat like a rock in the pit of Ray’s stomach. He’d worry later. He gulped and attempted to finish the story.

“Skullface got shot, one of the crowd had a gun,”

“What happened to him?”

Ray froze. He didn’t want to say what happened to the guy with the gun. Thinking back to what he did… holding that assault rifle. The way the body rolled off like that… 

Ray had never killed someone that close-range before. Being a sniper kept him away from the action. He could kill the little dots he saw in his scope, but people? He was more than shaken, but he didn’t feel it necessary to use words like traumatized. It was just… very alarming. Ray sputtered out a lie.

“Suit guy took him out…”

“Okay, and so you took Skullface to the alley and called Gav?”

Ray nodded. Michael wiped his hands on his face and took a deep breath. This was a very fucked up set of circumstances.

“Okay, I’m gonna go see how Gavin is doing, just stay here and… breathe, okay?

Ray nodded again. Words were hard. 

Michael left and Ray was alone in the living room. It was dark. Gavin and Michael probably left when there was still some light out, and no one thought to turn on a lamp in the commotion. Ray didn’t want to get up. The moon was starting to rise in the sky. Ray leaned back into the couch.

Breathing was easy now. He had calmed down considerably. He figured he had to stop questioning his actions at the convenience store. If he did… he’d never stop freaking out. He shuddered at the realization.

He was back in the fray.

The man probably would’ve been fine. He could handle it, there was no question about it. Ray didn’t think about that, though. At the time, he felt a strong desire to help him. Like… it was something he had to do. He felt a need to rescue the man, even though he couldn’t see his face.

The blue eyes flashed into Ray’s head.

Those eyes… they said a lot. What they were saying was up in the air, but they were shining behind that mask.

Ray hoped he’d get to know the guy a little more. Calling him Skullface seemed to worry him a little. It was kind of ominous. Ray yawned. Oh please, don’t let him fall asleep right now. He wanted to stay up to make sure Skullface would survive. Okay, that was a lie. He knew Skullface was gonna be alright, but at the same time…

What was this? What was he doing?

He was… worried.

He was worried about a psychopath wearing a skull mask. He protected him, saved him. For no apparent reason. Maybe Ray was a psychopath too.

He didn’t remember drifting off to sleep, but who ever does?

 

***

Ray woke up before Gavin and Michael. They must have made it longer into the night than he did. Ray was lying on the couch. He sat up in a rapid motion. The sun was rising. More of that golden light crap. He found his glasses, not remembering when he took them off in the first place.

He stumbled into the kitchen to find a clock. The microwave told him it wasn’t even 6 yet. That was… a relief maybe.

The next thought that entered his head was Skullface. Ray opened the bathroom door. Some supplies were strewn about. A medical kit was open on the counter by the sink. There was a bit of blood in the corner, someone’s hasty attempt to wipe it turned the white tiles pink. No sign of Skullface.

Ray realized he must be in his bedroom. 

Ray stumbled over in that direction and gripped the doorknob tightly. He opened it very slowly, peeking his head through the open doorway. 

A man was lying in the bed. Not Skullface. 

Of course he was Skullface, though. Ray saw the discarded mask on the floor. The man was asleep, Ray saw his shoulder was covered in bandages that were dyed red in spots. That had to be Skullface. He looked at the man’s face. His blonde hair was disheveled from wearing a mask, and his eyes were closed gently. Ray was kind of hoping to look at them again. Those blue eyes. 

The door shut a little louder than he had hoped, and the man groaned.

“Sorry!” Ray shout-whispered.

“I didn’t mean to… are you alright?”

Skullface/Blonde Guy didn’t answer, instead he leaned up, his blanket falling to expose his chest. Ray looked over at the window, trying to avoid staring. The man was kind of handsome, wasn’t he?

“You’re the guy… from the store,”

Deep. The voice. And Warm. Ray nodded.

“I guess I should thank you then,”

“Oh… yeah, I uh, yeah…”

Ray’s voice trailed off. Talking was weird, especially this early in the morning. The man smiled.

“You called me an asshole back there, didn’t you?”

Huh? Oh yeah. He did do that.

“Sorry, I was uh, a little worked up,”

There was a short silence, Ray’s eyes fell back on the man. Those blue eyes again. The sunlight fell on them from through the window. They weren’t as cold now, they were gentle now. They looked like the ocean. 

“I’m surprised you didn’t shoot me,” he said.

“Me too,” Ray said, with a deep exhale.

“I appreciate the gesture of kindness… oh,”

“What?”

“My crew is probably worried sick about me,”

“Suit Guy right? How do we get you back to him?”

The man chuckled, probably at Ray’s nickname for the man. 

“I can get back to them on my own… I should probably get changed and head back,”

“Yeah,”

Ray felt uneasy. He wanted to address his concerns, but hoped the man wouldn’t come to a horrible conclusion. Ray took another quick breath and spoke.

“So aren’t you gonna off me? I saw too much or whatever?”

The man laughed more. Ray pouted. What was so funny about that?

“No… I’m not gonna off you, you seem too smart to blab,”

“Me? Smart? If you say so,”

“Yeah… it was a little stupid of you to call me an asshole,”

“Why is that?”

“Because I could’ve killed you,”

“But you didn’t”

“Yeah… I guess I’m stupid too, huh?”

Ray smiled. It was nice that the man was… friendly? It made this encounter a lot less awkward. Ray gave him some time to get dressed, stepping out of the room and waiting by the door. When it opened Normalface stepped out, wearing the jacket he was wearing last night.

“Okay, so, you have to tell me what you’re name is so I can stop calling you Skullface,”

“Is that what you nicknamed me?”

“You didn’t do a lot of talking,”

“It’s just interesting… in my head I was calling you Glasses,”

“Glasses? Really?

“I think they’re a noticeable feature,”

“Well you can just stick to Ray from now on,”

“Alright then, Ray, you can use Ryan for myself from now on,”

Ryan. It sounded a lot nicer than Skullface. Ray sat down on the couch.

“Why did you shoot the other guy?” Ryan asked.

Ah. Ray had been expecting this question. Too bad he didn’t know how to answer it. He wasn’t sure why he did what he did.

“I… don’t know,”

“Well, I’m glad you did,”

Ryan smiled, Ray noticed the smile seemed a little crooked. The guy was a lot sweeter under that terrifying mask, huh?

Ray’s eyes fell on the man’s shoulder, bulkier than the rest of him. Ray looked down at his feet and sighed.

“You didn’t really need my help, did you?”

Ryan paused, taking a moment to formulate an answer. The longer he thought the more Ray expected to be disappointed in the result.

“Patching me up, you didn’t have to do… but back when that guy was on top of me…”

“Okay, so I was useful,”

“In that sense yes… don’t feel guilty about helping me though,”

Ray decided to listen to him. Stop beating himself up. It was a little depressing to watch, he could imagine. Ryan looked out the window, golden light across his face. It was quiet, but not silent. Birds were chirping somewhere distant, and cars hummed down the street below. 

What a night.

Ryan spoke, his eyes still looking out the window.

“You handled the AK pretty good,” 

“Huh?”

“The assault rifle, you handled it well,”

“I’ve never used something like that in my life,”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t miss,”

There was another pause, Ryan turned and looked around the apartment. He grinned.

“You’re hands aren’t clean either, are they?”

“What?”

Ryan gestured to the table. The pile of guns was still there from the previous night. Oh. Shit. Yeah, those were a thing.

“Those are Gavin’s,”

What the fuck kind of answer was that? He was an idiot.

“The British guy who fixed me up? Remind me to thank him later,”

“I’ll tell him…”

“So… what weapon do you prefer?”

“I’m not really-”

“I know you guys are criminals too… I can pick up on context clues,”

“I don’t… I don’t do that stuff anymore,”

Ryan raised an eyebrow at the statement. The next moment a door opened, and Michael stepped out, wearing a t-shirt and boxers. The sight before him was… awkward.

“Hello, I’m Ryan… Skullface?”

“Oh yeah… are you doing okay?”

Ryan shrugged the best he could. Michael turned to Ray.

“Listen, I’m gonna head back to my own place, tell Gavin when he gets up,”

Ray gives Michael a thumbs up and he’s gone. The room’s quiet returns once more. Ray wasn’t sure what he was doing, waiting for Gavin to wake up? He considered letting Gavin take care of this situation… but at the same time. Oh forget it. Ray did this, he would take care of everything. Ray stood up, clapping his hands together and rubbing them.

“Okay, so let’s get you back to your crew,” he said, smiling.

“Oh thanks, you drive I’ll tell you where to go?”

“I can’t drive,”

“Ah, so… you want me to drive?”

“Yeah,”

“I don’t have a car… uh, here,”

“You can take Gavin’s,”

“He won’t mind?”

He would absolutely mind.

“No.”

 

***

Ray felt a little more comfortable in the passenger seat. The man that was bleeding on him last night was now driving the car, so this was a marked improvement. The morning had settled in, sunlight turning from bright gold to something normal. Ray felt… calm. That was something.

Ryan draped one wrist over the steering, driving without much caution. Not like things were too busy anyway. Ray looked out the window. He heard Ryan’s voice behind him but didn’t feel like turning.

“You said you don’t do crime?”

Ray snickered.

“I definitely didn’t word it like that,”

“Okay fair enough, but something along those lines,”

“Yeah,”

“Why not? Alright, that sounds a little bizarre, but Gavin and the other one…”

“I used to,”

Ryan looked briefly at Ray, then shifted his eyes back to the road.

“Decided to quit?”

“Yup,”

There was another silent spell. Ray didn’t mind. After last night, he was relieved that things were quiet again. Ryan didn’t seem to interested in figuring out his life story. Which was… a comfort. Ray decided saving Ryan was a good thing. At least, that was his way of justifying everything that happened.

Whatever, he was fine now. 

When the arrived, Ryan opened the door for Ray.

“Oh, you’re a gentleman too?”

“Just thought I’d be polite,”

“Well gee, thanks,”

They walked inside, Ray insisted that he should probably stay in the car, but Ryan wasn’t having it. They’re great guys, you should meet them. They won’t bite. He promised. Ray was still apprehensive.

Ryan knocked on the door in a special rhythm. Must be some kind of code thing? The door flung open and Ray recognized Suit Guy immediately. 

“Ryan! Oh thank Christ, what the hell happened to you, buddy?”

“It’s a… strange story… this is Ray,”

Ray waved awkwardly.

“Oh, hey, would you look at that!”

Ray looked around nervously.

“Look… at what?”

“Fresh meat!”

Suit Guy chuckled, Ray looked up at Ryan. 

“What’s this guy talking about?” Ray whispered.

“Okay so… our crew was looking for new members,” Ryan began.

“No,”

“Ray, listen,”

“Nope!”

“At least hear me out,”

“Out of the question,”

“Then would you at least ask Gavin and Michael if they’re interested?”

Ray stopped, turning the thought over in his head. He sure as hell wasn’t about to join a crew, he was hoping to pass off last night’s events as a one-time thing. This was… too much. He sighed.

“Okay, fine, I’ll let them know,”

Suit Guy looked at them both with a puzzled expression.

“Wait… this kid not joining us?”

“No, I’m not interested,” Ray responded, his tone with more bite than he intended. 

“Sorry, Geoff, but he says he’ll talk to some guys, got two who might be interested,”

Ray’s brain picked up the new name, discarding “Suit Guy” in favor for this revelation. He wasn’t gonna lie, he was gonna miss it. Suit Guy and Skullface were more interesting names than Ryan and Geoff.

“Well hey, two is good, either of those guys snipers?”

They weren’t, but Ray was.

“Er… no,”

“Damn, we could really use a good sniper,”  
Ray felt a conflict of morality here. Was this some kind of test? Geoff had been speaking for only a few moments but… he had this integrity about him. Ray felt bad for him. God, what the hell was happening to him? He needed to stop trusting strangers. He started with a vague statement, attempting to diffuse his own argument before he made it.

“I… may have used a sniper rifle once or twice, but-”

Geoff’s face lit up.

“It was a really long time ago, and I don’t think I’m any-”

Geoff stuck out his arm, holding his hand out to Ray.

“Welcome aboard!”

“Wait, I didn’t agree to-”

“Oh don’t worry, just show us what you’ve got, we have something lying around here you can shoot, I’ll set up some targets!”

“I don’t have my gun with me,”

It was true, Ray’s bright pink sniper rifle had been sitting in the closet for months and months. Geoff scratched his beard in thought.

“Okay, well for now we’ll just take your word for it,”

Take his word for what? Owning a sniper rifle? This was getting ridiculous. 

Ryan offered to take Ray back to his home, since it was really the only way Ray and Gavin’s car would get back there. Geoff seemed overjoyed to meet the others, which Ray didn’t understand. On the drive back, Ray began talking a lot more than he had been back at Geoff’s.

“I don’t really think this a good idea,”

“I’m sure you’ve still got it, it’s gotta be like riding a bike, right?”

“No, I mean, I don’t know if I should be… doing this stuff again,”

“Ah…”

More silence, this time Ray wasn’t pleased with it. He really didn’t want to do this again. This was supposed to be over, he was supposed to have moved on. So then why… why did he save a criminal’s life? Why did he shoot an innocent man and help the criminal escape? Maybe… he wanted this. Deep down he wanted the thrill again. Ray threw those thoughts out quickly, he wasn’t the kind to give in to an addiction, and murder was the worst thing to get addicted to. 

“Tell you what,”

Ray was pulled out of thought by the sound of Ryan’s voice.

“I owe you for saving me… let’s discuss this more thoroughly… over breakfast?”

“What?

“There’s a diner not too far from here, interested in joining me?”

“Taking me on a date isn’t gonna make me join your crew,”

Ryan laughed, his shoulders bouncing. Ray noticed the injured one didn’t move as much as the other.

“A date?” Ryan asked for clarification.

“Yeah, take me out, seduce me into joining you guys,”

“I doubt I could manage that,”

“You wooed me enough to save your life,” Ray explained, finding himself laughing now too. This light atmosphere… this is what he really wanted. Maybe that’s why he gave up being a criminal. He had such a desperate need to cut the stress out of his life, he went for the glaring truth. But this… this wasn’t stress. This was tranquility. Okay, he owed the guy breakfast, at least.

“Okay, okay, let’s go,” Ray gave in. 

Ryan smiled again. Ray thought it was kind of cute the way he smiled. 

Maybe he was alright with calling this a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 3 could be up tomorrow or later today? it depends on how lazy i am
> 
> let me know what you thought of this chapter! thanks!!


	3. -AN UPDATE-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not an actual chapter but some news. Partially bad, mostly good. I think.

-ANNOUNCEMENT-

Okay, so i know that it’s been WAY too long since I last updated this fic but I decided I wasn’t happy with it and I’m scrapping it. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. I still want to write a FAHC fic so I’m taking this story back to the drawing board and starting over. The new fic will still be a FAHC thing but probably be drastically different. Anyway, just wanted to give a heads up to the (very sweet and lovely!) people who have been keeping up with this story. I promise the revamped fic will be MUCH better and I will actually have some idea where it’s going.


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